Fish scaling device



Sept. 21, 1948.

J. F. SAWYER FISH SCALING DEVICE Filed Feb. 24, 1944 Patented Sept. 21, 1948 UNITE-D 's- -m'r es PATENT or 2',449,75s= Frsrr' SCALING DEVIEE" JohnuF'; Sawyer, Millis,M'ass"..l A'pplieatitm February24, 1944;;Serial rm; sea-69st This invention relates to improvements infish sealinghevices; More particularly it relates to power "driven" fish "sealers" of the general type is moved over the broken surface: Theblades or cutting lugs catch under the skin and in the fleshlypart df'thelishat the region of-"the break amioftenrip the-fis'h to' anextent rendering 'it practically useless. Alsmthe-pribr art'bl'ades and cutting lues area rigidandnon-ylelding and tendt'o tear the fish" if a'-seale-'or a group of scales unduly resists when engaged by" a scaling *element: Furthermore; "the blades'orh'lugsbe'come dulled after an extended perioddfuseandunless' re-ground periodically; the devices become ineffective" fors'caling.

Itis amongthe objects 'o'f my present'invention wherein" the scale removing "elements may be small wires, orother suitably strong and durable linear element's, extending in general parallelism with the axis of the head and in spaced relation aroundthe" head; Preferably the wires or other linear elements will he of such small cross-'s'e'cti'onthat they can readily engage under any" of various sizes of fish scales as the rotatinghead is manually moved over the surface ofa fish;

The-*wiresmay have considerable unsupported extenthetween 'spaced supportsat opposite" ends ofthe head, each wire 'being generally taut" but 7 havinga'bility to wield somewhat "resiliently as by heing resilientlyheid at itsoppositeends on =r'i d supports; or'by being mounted on'i'support's' whieh themselves are resilient.

rlAnotlier-object is to prdvide a; fish sealer' who'se scale"-:removing"elements readilyand easily :"n'rav be-replacedindividually when worn OI bI ORGII:

=St1I1f'an0t1'Ie1i object of the invention-is toieme play a 'scalingsxistructure which. permitsuse of readily available material ilfor' "thescaling :ele' mentsxand at -smallicostzv r It:1i's;.moreover; .myilpurpose andi iohjectr genen.

t 2' ally to= improve: the: structure andoperationof power driven; manually applied-fish scalere..-

In the=accompanying drawings Figures 1 is: aside elevation of a 'fish sealer em- 5" bodying features off'mypresent invention ;1.

s1 igi1lre 2:is"a view'sim'ilar to Figure? 1 but with parts shown-inmedial vertical c-ross-section;;=and: showing; a: shield indotted outline: mounted on theaha-ndle and shielding a major part 'rof thefislr scaling head; i l l l Figure 3-.is antend] elevation'lookirig from the 1eft:in-=.Figure;..1'-;. l

Figure is, a crossesec-tional :detail; ontai'largerscale; showing thes-manner ofimountingr and: 5ecuring the endsof thescaiing'elements: and.

Figurefi is: a perspectivefof; a .fragment of; one of the resilient supports for aiscalin'grelement.

Referring to the drawing-the fishscalingthead l0. iswsecuredto: one endofa flexible drivexshafti li'which extends through; thefiexible casing M fromva suitable power -:source,.not- -shown. The flexible shaft 1| Zfiand its casing 14 extend within: the hollow of ta cylindrical ilrandlev 16: whichiis secured. to the casing M in anv'con-venient and effective manner; "as *by-oneor more set screws l 81 The' s'ealing'hea'd' I comprises an axial shaft zlllhavingtherannular "flange zz'spacedsomewhat from one'end; and that end'of shalftvZlIispro.-- vi'ded with an "axial "bore 24 for receiving the'end of the flexible shaft l'2. One'or'more set screws Zli rhay securethe flanged shaft zfl on the end" of the'fiexible-shaft, to rotate therewith. Flange ZZ seats-rOtataBIy in a recess28in the inner end of the handle IS, the flange preferably losing-Na little wider- 'than the depth of recess 'zaso that the "fl'ange projects out i of the recess for spacing aascale':elementsupporting'member 3U awayrfriom the end of theanon-rotating "1131161183115.

The-supporting member, 30. isrrepresentediasa disk of spring metal having an axialholethroughm which head shaft 20 extends, and'havlngaseries oispring fingers 32 bent out of the plane of the body of the member, each finger being formed or. provided with means for receiving and removably" holding one end of a linear scaling, ele- 'Supportingmeniber' is clamped-against flange' -iih y' a sleeve 36 011 the head shaf t 20', the'sleeve" having-a 'flange at each "endfor en'- gagingand' steadying respectivel'y'thesupporting member 30 and a-correspondingsupporting menu'- ber 3B wh-ioh is-cl'amped between th'e sleeve flange and a -washer 4 Q by a nut- W2 screwed om the outer endtof lthe headi shaft lfll- Hence, when nut 421s tightened; theilieazd shaft Z0; 1 sleeve fi -andzbothl as at 44, over which the wire extends. The fingers may be grooved to prevent lateral displacement of the wires or as shown in Figs. 4 and 5,

a slot 46 may be formed in the outer curved part of each finger to receive the wire as it passes over the terminal andv downward to a suitable securing means on each finger. Preferably the wires are secured so as to be easily removable for replacement of worn or broken wires. 'Conveniently, a loop 48 may be formed at each end of the wire elements 34, for engaging under an out-set tongue '5fl on each finger. Due to the resiliency of the fingers, they may be'flexed sufficiently to permit engagement of the loop ends of the wires over the tongues, and then they inherently spring back to maintain the wires taut in their unsupported extents between supports.

If desiredy a suitable shield may be provided around the main extent of the rotating head, with its bottom side open. -In Fig. 2 I have indicated such a shield in dotted outline at 52, secured to handle l6 by one or more screws 54.

My improved fish sealer is adapted for use in the same manner-as the prior devices, by being manually" moved 'over the surface of a fish. However, it will be obvious that my linear scaling elements can flex somewhat to more readily conform'to the surface contour which i being traversed by the head and hence the scaling elements more effectively can engage under the scalesand cause their removal. Also, because there is yield'ability inherent in my improved structure, there is greatly 'minimized 'danger of tearing a fish if one or:a group-of scalesun-duly resists removal.

but only smooth linear elements, my improved sealer can work over broken places-in the skin orlfieshly part of afish without digging'inv and ripping the fish as has been a prevalent happening with the prior devices.

The ease and simplicity with which worn or broken .linear elements may be replaced, coupled with the economy of suchreplacements; as well as the low initial costsinvolved, constitute im portant improvements over comparable prior fish scaling devices. a

I claim'as my invention:

1. In a fish scaling device, a rotatable head comprising an axially extending element having meansat one end for securing it to a power shaft to rot-ate therewith, a plurality of end members spaced apart on said axial element and having resilient portions extending radially outward from said axial element, means securing said end members in their spaced relation and against rotation on said axial element, aseries of wires extending from one to another of said end members in general parallelism with the axis of rotation of thehead and in spaced relation around said axis,

and means removably securing end'portions of Then too, because there are no cutting surfaces or projections acting on the fish,

' whereby the linear elements are set radially out-- 4 the individual wires to said resilient portions of said end members.

2. In a fish scaling device, a handle, a head rotatably mounted at one end of the handle and including an axially extending element having means thereon for securing it to a power shaft to rotate therewith, said head having a plurality of members spaced apart on said axially extending element, and each of said members having resilient portions projecting radially outward in spaced relation around said axially extending element, a series of thin, flexible linear elements extending from one to another of said spaced apart members in general parallelism with the axis of rotation of the head and in spaced relation around said axis, and means removably securing endportions of the individual flexible linear elements to said resilient portions of said spaced apart members with said resilient portions maintaining the linear elements constantly under tension. 7 J

3. In a fish scaling device, a rotatable head, relatively stationary means for supporting the head,

means Within said relatively stationary means for. connecting thehead to; a drive shaft for rotation ofthe head, a series of thin andflexible linear elements, each extending from a resilient finger on one said spring metal member to an oppositely clisposed resilient finger -on the other said springmetal member, and means removably securing opposite ends of the individual linear elements to the fingers betweenwhich they extend with the fingers maintaining the linear elements constantly under tension.

4. In a fish scaling device, a rotatable head comprising an axially extending member having means at one end for connection to a drive shaft, a pair of end members, means for clamping said end members to saidaxially extending memberin axially spaced relation, each said end mem ber having resilient portions projecting radially in spacedrelation around the axis of the head, a serles'of flexible linear elements extending between oppositely disposed resilient portions of. said end members, and means removably securing opposite ends of the linear elements to'said resilient portions of the end; members with said linear elements disposed radially outward of the said resilient portions of the end member's.

5. In a fish scaling device, a rotatable head-,-

comprising axially spaced end members, means securing the end members together in their spaced relation for rotationin unison, each said end member having radially projecting resilient portions spaced around theaxis of the head, and a series .of flexible linear elements. stretched across from end member to end member and each secured at its opposite ends to a said resilient portion of each endmember, each said linear element extending overtheradially outermost ends of the resilient portions of the end'members ward of the end members. I s

- 6 -In-a fishscaling device, a rotatable head comprising axially spaced end members, -means; clamping said end members in their said axially spaced relation; each said end member having a series of resilient portions extendingoutward from its-clampingmeans and extending also obliquely in general direction away from the other end member wherebyythe outerends offsaid REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number Number 6 UNITED s'm'rns PATENTS Name Date Frey Oct. 23, 1888 Boesch et a1. Dec. 9, 1919 Price Sept. 16, 1930 Scoville Apr. 1.1, 1939 Crapo Apr. 18, 1939 Gascoigne Nov. 19, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France Dec. 2, 1932 

